PM's lawyers to get all graft evidence

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has approved a request by lawyers for caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to provide them with more documents relating to its rice-pledging scheme probe, but cautioned that most of the wanted information is not new evidence and has already been released in public.

Published: 20/03/2014 at 10:18 PM

Writer: Online Reporters

Ms Yingluck's lawyers are preparing a defence for her over accusations that she was derelict in her duty for failing to address allegations of corruption in the government’s rice-subsidy scheme.

They have already been given a 49-page report detailing the NACC's probe into the programme, but claimed the real report has more than 49 pages and have demanded to see the entire evidence collected by the anti-graft agency against Ms Yingluck in order to properly defend her.

NACC secretary-general Sansern Poljiak told a news conference Thursday that the panel resolved to approve the lawyers’ petition which seeks to examine 19 more documents related to the case, Daily News Online reported.

The NACC would make an arrangement with them to provide the additional evidence before March 31, the deadline for Ms Yingluck to defend the dereliction of duty charges.

Mr Sansern, however, said it should be noted that most of the contents in the requested documents had been included in the 49-page report while the rest had already been made public and were available to the general public.

For example, an NACC research study on rice market intervention measures to prevent corruption, listed five warning letters issued directly to Ms Yingluck by the Office of the Auditor-General about the lack of transparency in the scheme and possible severe damage. There were also the government’s rice policy statements and parliamentary debate speeches and interpellations on the issue, he added.